ESPN's Masters Ratings Crash 28% Without Tiger Woods

Published 2:55 pm, Friday, April 11, 2014

ESPN's ratings for the first round of the Masters dropped significantly from last year.

Without Tiger Woods in the field, the ratings fell from 2.8 million viewers (2.0 rating) in 2013 to 2.0 million viewers (1.5 rating) in 2014, the network says.

That's a ~28% drop.

Thursday's rating was down more than 50% from the record 4.2 million people who watched the Friday broadcast of the 2013 Masters. That broadcast prominently featured Tiger, including his infamous botched drop on the 15th hole.

Tiger is no longer the dominant force he was a decade ago, but he's still by far the sport's biggest draw.